Initiative

Rachel Block is the executive director for the New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC), a statewide multi-stakeholder organization committed to advancing health information technology adoption and use in New York. She officially assumed this position in March 2008, having served as interim executive director since NYeC was incorporated in December 2006. From August 2003 - March 2008, she was the project director for the United Hospital Fund's Quality Strategies Initiative where she developed several initiatives to coordinate improvements in health care delivery and outcomes across the health care system in New York, including the planning process which led to creating NYeC. Prior to joining the Fund, Rachel worked in the public and private sectors leading strategic planning and policy development efforts to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of state health programs. She served as a vice president for health services at Maximus from 2002-2003. From 1994-2002, Rachel held several senior management positions at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (previously Health Care Financing Administration) where she directed policy development and operations of Medicaid, State Children's Health Insurance, and Federal Survey and Certification Programs, with particular emphasis on quality improvement, data and systems issues. From 1992-94, Rachel worked for then-Governor Howard Dean in the development of a comprehensive health reform plan for the state of Vermont. She also worked for the New York State Legislature from 1978-92 where she concentrated on Medicaid, coverage for the uninsured, public health and professional licensing issues. Rachel is currently the president of the board for the eHealth Initiative. She recently served on the national advisory committee for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Maximizing Enrollment for Kids Program.

Douglas W. Emery, MS is the Director of Payment Policy at the eHealth Initiative. He has been working in healthcare reform policy for over 14 years. Beginning in 1991, at the Institute of Political Economy, he and other colleagues began to work out a new microeconomic model for healthcare economics and episode of care purchasing. Since then, Mr. Emery has worked in the public sector (Public Employees Health Program of Utah) and the private sector as an executive and consultant (Oxford Health Plans, HealthSouth, HealthMarket, Medstat, Definity Health, etc.) Mr. Emery has published many articles and two books on moving towards a more consumer-directed model and episode purchasing. The second book, Customer Directed Healthcare with Episode Pricing is due to be published in January of this year through Texere, a division of Thomson Publishing.

Mark Gorden, MS is eHealth Initiative's Director of Policy. Mark's lengthy background in health care policy and advocacy includes advancing the use of health information technology and e-prescribing, pay for performance, quality of care and patient safety, demonstration program design and evaluation, expanding coverage of the uninsured, and promoting use of a medical home. A product of Harvard School of Public Health's first graduating class in Health Policy and Management, Mark was the American Society of Internal Medicine's (ASIM) first Director of Research. This was followed by 20 plus years working for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, as a Commissioned Officer in the U.S. Public Health Service. At CMS, Mark played a pivotal role in the birth of the Quality Improvement Organization program, and led Federal policy implementing the nation's first Medicaid freedom of choice waivers, cutting edge work which earned him the U.S. Surgeon General's Commendation Medal. Prior to joining eHI, Mark served as a senior executive for three major national health care organizations: the American College of Physicians (ACP), the Catholic Health Association of the United States, and the American College of Radiology.

Aaron Holman is the Manager of Public Policy and Government Relations for the eHealth Initiative. Aaron gradutated with a B.A. from the University of Michigan in Political Theory and worked in the United States Senate for Senator Debbie Stabenow. While in the Senate, Aaron was a staff assistant working on health policy as well as the Special Assistant to the Senator. Aaron also served as the Senator's travelling representative in her most recent election.

Leah Secunda serves as Controller for the eHealth Initiative, Foundation for eHealth Initiative and Bridges to Excellence. Prior to eHI, she served as Finance Manager at Youth for Understanding in Bethesda, MD (non-profit US and international Student Exchange Organization) and as Controller for Smart Start , an ignition interlock service provider, manufacturer and franchise corporation in Irving, Texas. Leah brings her experience, skills and outlook from the "for profit sector" to oversee all aspects of the financial operations for the three organizations under the eHealth Initiative umbrella.

Sheldon joined Family & Nursing Care in 2005, with 28 years of accounting and finance experience. He was a partner in a Washington, DC public accounting firm for 17 years before taking a position as chief financial officer of a medical equipment company. Sheldon's last position before joining Family & Nursing Care was as chief financial officer of a large non-profit organization. Sheldon was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where he graduated from Robert Morris College with a degree in accounting. When he isn't rooting for the Pittsburgh Steelers, you will find Sheldon playing volleyball or tinkering with anything electronic. If the gadget is still working, Sheldon will happily turn his attention to his wife and three children.

David Wiley is Professor of Sociology and Director of the African Studies Center at Michigan State University, having conducted research on urban and rural environments in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, and South Africa. He has been director of a Title VI African National Resource Center since 1972. He has been a member of the Higher Education Forum of the U.S./South Africa Bi-National Commission; President of the African Studies Association; and chairperson of international committees of the National Science Foundation, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Sociological Association. He has been Vice-Chairperson, U.S. National Commission for UNESCO, and currently is co-chair of the Council of Title VI National Resource Centers. At MSU, he is coordinator of the e-LCTL Initiative for priority-setting for language instruction among the Title VI centers nationally. He has authored a number of works on African environmental issues, Southern Africa, African film, and international education. He was Rapporteur for the National Conference on the Future of Foreign Language and Area Studies Programs in Higher Education, and authored "Building the Nation's International Expertise for a Global Future: Forty Years of the Title VI and Fulbright-Hays International Education Programs," a chapter in Changing Perspectives on International Education, as well as edited Group Portrait: Internationalizing the Academic Disciplines. His recent research and publications concern environmental issues in Kenya (Lake Victoria) and South Africa and international education in U.S. universities.

Heather Loretoni serves as a part-time Accounting Assistant for eHealth Initiative, working primarily in membership accounting and accounts receivables. Heather is currently enrolled full-time at NOVA. She looks forward to receiving her A.A. in Business in 2008 and moving on to receive a B.A. in Accounting. Prior to working at eHI, Heather worked as an Accounting Assistant at OPELCO, along with nights and weekends as a Starbucks Barista.

A 1999 graduate of Michigan State University with a degree in Finance, Jason has spent the vast majority of his career working in the creative world by concentrating on the entertainment industry and event marketing. He initially opened his own business in Michigan where he developed over 100 music related promotional events for clients. His largest client was Clear Channel Radio. In addition he is an experienced DJ who is in great demand through out the LA basin and he has worked for major corporations at events such as the auto shows. He has appeared all over the country. Since moving to LA a few years ago, he has worked for PIC-TV in sales and Initiative in media buying. Currently he is concentrating on new media, namely MYSPACE.com where he is an account manager. he is a creative resource to LMS-UNLIMITED works on selective California projects in the California market.

Rachel Hoeft serves as Program Manager supporting eHealth Initiative and its Foundation. Rachel supports monthly working group meetings, regional forums, toolkit, survey development and communication vehicles for eHI. Prior to her work at the eHealth Initiative, she worked in Marketing for the Corporate Executive Board. Rachel holds her B.A. in Communication from Michigan State University.

Susan Sullivan-Tubach lives in the North Cove neighborhood of the Stonehouse District and has been a resident of James City County since 1996. Ms. Sullivan-Tubach works at the Historic Triangle Substance Abuse Coalition as the Area Coordinator for the Faith-based Initiative. She holds a degree in Psychology from The College of William and Mary. Through her experience and community service work, Ms. Sullivan-Tubach brings to the Community Participation Team affiliations with a number of groups, including the W/JCC School Division, special education, and faith communities.

Camilla brings years of experience in strategic planning, change management, and collaboration building to assist organizations, collaborations, communities and regions to develop and implement strategies and business plans. Her expertise includes helping groups envision new directions, obtaining agreement among organizations to move forward together, developing viable business models, and building relationships across entities. Camilla has been at the forefront in helping communities and states across the country organize electronic health information exchanges (HIEs) and regional health information organizations (RHIOs). In her consulting roles she has been involved with governance, community e-health road maps, financial sustainability, fundraising, privacy and security, physician adoption, and health care disparities, among other issues. She served as the Interim Executive Director of ICareConnect, Inc., a regional health information network in Central Indiana that merged into Indiana Health Information Exchange. Since then, she has worked with numerous communities, states, public health entities, community collaborations, and health systems in planning and developing their cross-organization electronic initiatives. This includes three of the nine financially self-sustaining health information exchanges, among hundreds in the United States: Michiana Health Information Network (MHIN) in South Bend, Indiana; HealthBridge in Cincinnati, Ohio; and Indiana Health Information Exchange (IHIE). Currently, she is the Interim Executive Director of Clark and Champaign Counties Health Information Exchange in Springfield, Ohio. Camilla is also involved with electronic information exchange at the national level. She is a member of HIMSS and serves on the HIMSS HIE Steering Committee. Previously, she served as the Co-Chair of the HIMSS RHIO Federation Position Statement Work Group. She is also a member of eHealth Initiative and serves on eHI's Connecting for Communities Work Group and the eHealth Initiative Blueprint Committee on Improving Population Health using HIT and HIE. Her diverse background includes consulting for large organizations while at Price WaterhouseCoopers, business start-ups at USA Group, and nearly 20 years of consulting with a wide variety of organizations and alliances serving regional, national and international markets. Camilla received a B.A. from the University of Illinois and a M.B.A. from the University of New Mexico.

Mr. Van Hoesen has more than 30 years of wide-ranging Information Technology experience across a variety of vertical markets including healthcare, education, marketing/media, government, insurance, and manufacturing. His proven expertise along with his ability to build, manage and motivate technical and administrative project teams provides JRG Clients with access to unparalleled cross-vertical technology opportunities and the ability to define, develop and drive the path to fulfillment. Prior to JRG, Mr. Van Hoesen co-founded and was the former CTO of Education Networks of America, the largest educational ISP in the U.S. serving over 3 million K-12 students daily. In addition, he is the founder of cTechnology.org, a non-profit focused on creating strategies for local community educational and economic transformation through catalytic technology initiatives. Mr. Van Hoesen is a member of the eHealth Initiative (eHI) Technology Working Group; an active industry advisor and thought leader for the FCC's Rural Healthcare Network Initiative; quoted author of industry white papers on the role of technology within education and community development; respected advisors to lawmakers on telecommunications and technology policy and law at the local, state, and national level; and recipient of the National Security Agency Innovation Award for his work in military cryptographic field operations.